Control of Congress at stake as America votes in midterm election

Almost 40% of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate, while about 25% said they voted to express support for Trump.

The governor race is highly contested, between Brian Kemp, who is supported by President Donald Trump, and Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who has campaigned with Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama.

So far she has spoken out against using such a powerful political cudgel against him, arguing that the explosive step would likely mobilize Republican voters eager to protect the president.

If Democrats do manage to take the House, they will be in position to provide the first institutional check on Trump's presidency - a role Republicans have chosen not to play given his political dominance on the right.

Still, Trump brushed off criticism that he was alienating moderate voters as he continued his massive rallies and overheated rhetoric.

More broadly, Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have been appalled by Trump's nonchalance about abuse by USA allies, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt. "All indications are that neither of those factors support expanding multiples for stocks", said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management in NY.

As a result, most congressional analysts believe that the one thing that the Democrats in the House will be able to do without help from either the Senate or the President is "oversight".

Anxious Republicans privately expressed confidence in their narrow Senate majority but feared the House was slipping away.

The Republican president is the omnipresent figure as Americans render their verdict Tuesday on the past 21 months of Trumpism.

Trump sought to take credit for retaining the GOP's Senate majority, even as the party's foothold in the House was slipping.

But Trump also acted on his impulses.

However, Democrats will view House victories in states like Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Minnesota as cause for optimism as they prepare to hold the president to account in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. An open seat that included Atlantic City was also ripe for Democratic pickup by state lawmaker Jeff Van Drew after the GOP campaign committee abandoned Republican Seth Grossman over racially charged comments.

Republicans moved ever closer to closing off the Democratic path to a Senate majority when challenger Mike Braun beat Indiana Sen.

Democrats have won at least 17 Republican-held districts, a significant down payment on the net gain of 23 seats they need to win the House.

The 2018 elections also exposed an extraordinary political realignment in an electorate defined by race, gender, and education that could shape US politics for years to come.

The California Democrat said at a press conference earlier in the day, the midterm elections were "about health care" and a referendum on Republican efforts to scrap Obamacare.

About four in 10 voters choose health care as the most important issue facing the country, and seven in 10 say the nation's health-care system needs major changes, the exit polling shows.

The president found partial success despite his current job approval, set at 40 per cent by Gallup, the lowest at this point of any first-term president in the modern era.

This election cycle - which had a record number of women elected to the House and an unprecedented number of candidates of colour standing - also saw a number of firsts.

But Mr. Trump isn't the only Republican in the executive branch with cause for concern - Democrats are also poised to launch or continue probes into Cabinet-level secretaries and federal agencies. The Senate, where only 35 seats are up for grabs, has a map that favors the Republicans. Liberals hope that a Republican defeat in the midterm could halt this trend.

Trump was watching the results roll in from the White House, where he spent the day holed up with friends and family.

Also a record number of women - 200 Democrats and 60 Republicans - are candidates for Congress, where they now hold only about 20 percent of the seats.

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